How Do I find a great Spot?!!!!

[bergie]

If you are asking that question because you haven't been detecting for long or if you have and need new ideas, here's an example. I wanted to help "sixguns" who just posted on the site for the first time. I was inspired to try to find a place there in Kentucky where sixguns could find great/old stuff. I am in New York. So, I went to an old postcard site and found mention of an old mineral springs recreation area. Some more digging (pun intended) yielded this link -- which made me want to book tickets to fly to Kentucky myself. This is the kind of thing anyone can find in some form near them (a meaningful site of some kind, long lost to time). Now this site has been developed, but there must be areas of original land there to search. This took about 10 minutes to locate. So, be a detective!
http://www.springssubdivision.com/history.htm

 

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[TreasureTales]

Hey Bergie, Happy Thanksgiving to you, too; and you are so right about being a detective. Not only does detective work pay off (pun intended) when trying to locate sites, but it also pays off when trying to identify an item. Research/detective work is now one of the things I truly enjoy about the hobby. So much history is learned, so many interesting areas are visited, and sometimes odd tidbits of info can be uncovered that will truly amaze me. And identifying an unusual find through detective work is quite gratifying. So, yes, you are absolutely correct...do the detective work...a truly successful treasure hunter is also a good detective.

 

[Postalrevnant]

Aye Bergie that was a great find. Wish it was on my side of the state. That is a great tip on another place to start looking for leads.

Thank you,

Postalrevnant

 

[leslie(nova scotia)]

to find a spot me bouy

From the land of the Bluenose..too halibut with research for when you find a spot through that more times then not it's developed. After 33 years in this hobby I have found the best way is to ask folks especially older bouys. Old folks love totalk so just listen.

Another way is to get your name out there threw organizations and by making hobby cards.

The third way is a conversation piece. i usually wear a necklace made of about 120 gold and silver rings around my neck on an old piece of rawhide from an old ballglove and just keep adding to it..that really works well and has led me to a good many water and land spots....happy hunting!

 

[TreasureTales]

Re: to find a spot me bouy

From the land of the Bluenose..too halibut with research for when you find a spot through that more times then not it's developed. After 33 years in this hobby I have found the best way is to ask folks especially older bouys. Old folks love totalk so just listen.

Another way is to get your name out there threw organizations and by making hobby cards.

The third way is a conversation piece. i usually wear a necklace made of about 120 gold and silver rings around my neck on an old piece of rawhide from an old ballglove and just keep adding to it..that really works well and has led me to a good many water and land spots....happy hunting!

Very good suggestions, and your third suggestion is a really unique idea. Being mostly a relic hunter myself, I guess I could wear old horseshoes on a horse collar around my neck!!!! Seriously, though, that is a great idea...to wear something interesting so that it starts a conversation. Very, very good idea. I'll have to ponder that and see what I can come up with. Only drawback is, I don't wear any jewelry at all. Guess I'm from the generation where men don't wear jewelry. Hmmm, maybe a hood ornament will work for me?

 

[Mona Lisa]

Re: to find a spot me bouy

Bergie, You're a great guy to help a newb like that.

The third way is a conversation piece. i usually wear a necklace made of about 120 gold and silver rings around my neck on an old piece of rawhide from an old ballglove and just keep adding to it..that really works well and has led me to a good many water and land spots....happy hunting!

Ahhh, Leslie. I, for one, would love to see a picture of this necklace....and a picture if you wearing it.

 

[Gypsy Heart]

Great ideas folks. I think one of the reasons we gravitate to this hobby because in some way we are all detectives. We are good at figuring out clues,unsolving mysteries and paying attention to detail. I love history and old maps and on my quest to always learn more ,I have come across clues that lead me to new sites.
Research is a great key when it comes to finding where a good site is. And research comes in many forms. I make sure that I tell alot of people what I love to do. I spend hours at the library and all the librarians know that I am looking for sites. They are quick to tell me when or where they have heard of something and often when I walk in the door they have a list of research materials that they have came across that I might be interested in. I try and take the time to really listen to older folks,asking them questions and wanting to hear about what they remember about the towns or homesteads they grew up on. Sometimes its just a simple statement that will lead you to some nice discoveries. I recently asked a lady in her seventies if I could photograph the old buildings on her families homestead. As she told me her family story,she mentioned that when she was a teenager the big thing to do was walk the two mile dirt trail to the swimming hole. I said"Oh the road" and she answered the that road was now about 100 feet south of where it used to be...the original trail was through the woods and over a hill....If you compare old to new maps ...it looks like the roads are the same...so without her simple statement that the road had moved ,I would have never hiked through those woods and found alot of nice relics.
Just keep your eyes and ears open and its a good idea to keep a journal of your sites .

 

[Mojave]

Great point Gypsy....About the library.....I have spent hours on end in the Library just looking through old copies of the main newspaper from the early 1900's on Microfilm.....I just go through them looking for areas like Fairgrounds, March's, concerts, anywhere that people gathered for big events......It is totally surprising how many places one can find this way....

 

[TreasureTales]

Gypsy, your comment about keeping a journal makes a good point. I've been keeping a Journal of Discovery (loosely named after Lewis & Clark and their 'Voyage of Discovery') for the past several years. I jot down little bits of info and try to piece them together every so often. This method led me to (re)discover an old site that I was able to explore and exploit. Then I wrote about the place and made another $250.00 when I sold the story to a magazine. (There's more than one way to make a buck!) For that particular spot, I got clues from 2 old books, one motel clerk, and a conversation I overheard at a restaurant in the vicinity. Added together, thanks to the notes I had jotted down over the space of a couple years, I was able to locate the site and find some goodies. Had I relied on memory alone, I probably would have failed to make the connection and put all the pieces together.

I also jot down notes of places that I plan to hunt at a future time but am unable to hunt at the current time. I'll drive past a place on the way to an appointment and maybe don't have time to hunt it right then or I'm not dressed propertly for digging in the dirt. So I take out my journal and write down the details, sometimes even jotting down the GPS coordinates, then I visit the place the next time I get the chance. I also write down the types of things found and the dates of coins so I can get an idea of the age of the place.

Detective work is right. Once there was a newspaper article about a guy who was shooting his .22 pistol off in a crowded swimming area. Law enforcement showed up and ran the guy off, but didn't have any proof that he was the one doing the shooting (I guess the witnesses pointing to the gun in his belt wasn't enough "proof.") so they just let him go. A day later I went to the location and used my detector to find his shell casings and a couple pieces of lead. I figured I had all the "proof" the cops could use, but they never pursued the issue so I dumped the evidence in the trash can outside the police station. So much for the professional detectives doing the detective work....

 

[Dirt Fishing in Va]

How about a belt or hat band made of pop tops! I have a plenty!